Drug
and Dietary Supplement Profiles

A comprehensive review of the safety and effectiveness of this drug. If the drug
is not a Do Not Use product, information on adverse effects, drug interactions
and how to use the medication are included.

Search results below include drug profiles where your selected drug is a secondary subject of discussion

sibutramine (MERIDIA)We list this drug as a Do Not Use drug because it causes very limited weight loss and also causes high blood pressure and increased heart rate.

Worst Pills, Best Pills Newsletter Articles

Search results below include Worst Pills, Best Pills Newsletter Articles where your selected drug is a secondary subject of discussion

Responsible Disposal of Prescription Drugs
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(May 2016)
For various reasons, many prescribed medications go unused. Such leftover medications can pose a hazard to family members, especially young children, and the environment. Find out the best ways to safely dispose of unused prescription medications.

Overusing Medications Can Cause Headaches
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(March 2013)
What kind of headache is not relieved by pain medications but actually caused by their frequent overuse? The article describes which painkillers can cause medication overuse headaches (MOH) when used too frequently over specified durations of time.

Massive Misprescribing of Inappropriate Drugs to Hospitalized Elderly Patients
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(September 2008)
A nationwide study published in spring 2008 in the Journal of Hospital Medicine showed that nearly half (49 percent) of almost 500,000 hospital patients older than 65 have been prescribed one or more of 92 drugs known to be unnecessarily unsafe for older patients. 10,000 of these patients had four or more of these inappropriate medicines prescribed during their hospitalization.
Among the most common categories of adverse drug reactions these inappropriately prescribed drugs can cause are excessive sedation, abnormally low blood pressure and bleeding. We list the 92 drugs in the article and give further details about the kinds of side effects these drugs can cause.

Dangers of Mixing Alcohol with Certain Medications or Diseases
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(August 2008)
The article discusses 273 drugs that can have harmful interactions with alcohol. Also reviewed are several ways in which these harmful interactions can occur:
1/ Medications Can Increase Alcohol Blood Levels
2/ Additive effects of medications and alcohol. One of the best- known drug-alcohol interactions is when alcohol, a depressant, is taken with other sedative medications, and excessive sedation or depression of respiration can occur
3/Alcohol can increase the blood levels of some medications leading to toxicity of these drugs.
4/ Alcohol also can reduce blood levels of some medications causing them to be less effective.
Although some of the interactions between alcohol and medications mainly occur in people who drink heavily (three or more drinks on one occasion), many of these interactions may occur with much lower amounts of alcohol use, such as one to two drinks on an occasion.
We strongly urge you to tell your physicians and other health care providers how much alcohol you are drinking so they can effectively assess the risks and advise you about the safe use of alcohol and medications.

SSRIs Can Have Dangerous Interactions With Other Drugs
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(January 2008)
More than 70 million prescriptions a year are filled for these popular antidepressants, including Prozac, Paxil, Zoloft, Luvox, Celexa and Lexapro. This article gives details about more than 60 other widely prescribed prescription drugs that can have harmful interactions if used with these antidepressants. The two different kinds of interactions are also discussed.

The Same Old Sad Story - Inappropriate Prescribing to the Elderly
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(February 2002)
“Inappropriate medication use is a major patient safety concern, especially for the elderly population.” This is the first sentence of a study published in the December 12, 2001 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The majority of the 33 drugs in this study have been on the market for years........